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Sunday, July 20, 2008

15 Year Mortgage, Is It Right For You! - Free Amortization Chart

By John Bottel

For many home buyers, the only real decision they have to make is whether to have a 15 or 30 year fixed mortgage rate? Many people wait until they are older before taking on the responsibility of a mortgage so an early payment of this large debt is an important issue to think about. But, before you commit yourself and sign any documents, there are points you need to think about. One point to remember is ensuring that your monthly mortgage repayment remains the same throughout the entire period of the loan.

It seems that some lenders are happy to offer deals that appear too good to be true and they usually are. Loans agreed with a 15 year fixed mortgage keep the same interest rate throughout the entire life of the agreement.

If you are someone that wants a loan with a regular fixed repayment and no additional charges then this is the main benefit with this type of agreement. My wife and I looked into the loans available with 15 year fixed mortgage rates when we were searching for a home for sale.

Having a realistic, sustainable monthly payment on our mortgage was important even though we wanted to pay off our debt as soon as possible. This meant we had to consider 30 year fixed rate mortgage plans as well as those of 15 years.

Considering longer term fixed rate mortgages was one option if we could not afford a 15 year plan. Because we did not want to have a mortgage close to retirement, we hoped we would be able to afford a shorter 15 year fixed rate mortgage. Too much pressure was placed on the early repayment of the mortgage loan.

We thought about it long and hard and despite the pressure we decided to go with the 30 year loan plan. There were many things that lead us into making this choice. It was easier reaching this conclusion when I learned that my wife was expecting a baby.

Because she wanted to be at home for our child, her income would not only be uncertain but also irregular. The financial commitment per month on the 15 year fixed mortgage rate was just too high. We could see the financial problem of getting in too deep even though there were benefits to a shorter loan period. Despite the trepidation of having a longer term loan, it did reduce the repayments considerably.

If we have spare cash throughout the year then we can use it to reduce the capital sum. By doing this you can also reduce the term of the mortgage by quite a few years. This is well worth it in the long term but it does require some discipline. Our first choice would have been to go for the short term 15 year fixed rate mortgage solution but this did not help with our more immediate situation. As it is, things worked out very well for us by taking this route.

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